Dear Amr, Lots of questions from you. I feel like a tour company director. Regarding the trip, we had an amazing time, simply amazing. Here are a few details for you. I will post this to tripadvisor in a different format as well. We loved the time in Cairo, although we were a bit jet lagged. We all would have loved some more time in the bazaar. The train was fine, we slept well, and found the trip comfortable. The valley of the Kings was very interesting for us. We thought the best site we saw was Karnak. It was fantastic. We were a bit hesitant about the Nile Cruise, but it turned out to be a highlight for us. The Nile Dolphin was clean, and comfortable, and the staff went over and above with their friendliness and service. We had a lot of laughs, and the cruise itself was fascinating. We were sad to leave the ship, and being waited on hand and foot. We thought the trip to Abu Simbel was rather long, and we might not do that part of the tour if we were to do it again. We thought maybe a day of cruising around Aswan, doing a little shopping and relaxing might have been a viable alternative. We loved the time on the Felucca, and the Nubian village. We thought it might be interesting to spend a night at the village. We loved the people there, and wandering around the village, We could have used more time there. The scenery around the village, on the river was really beautiful as well. We thought more time in Alexandria would have been nice. I could have spent a few hours in the library, and a day or two walking on the promenade checiking things out. The boat building section looked fascinating to me. The adventure continued with our time in the White Desert. Sarah went so far as to say she would like to do a week or two on the desert. Betty and I loved the three days we spent in the desert. The guides were great, and the camp spots were unbelievably beautiful. We thought the trip to Jordan was very good. The highlight of course was Petra. We enjoyed the scenery and the other sites we saw as well. We did find Jordan to be quite expensive. The pre trip planning you did for us was invaluable for us. Thank you very much for that. Our guides were lots of fun, especially Marian, and very knowledgeable. We also appreciated the drivers, who were careful and calm while driving under less than ideal conditions. Regarding your other questions, I will talk to Nadine, and get the details of the perfume from her. Either I will send the info to you, or Nadine will send it to you. I will be posting my photos to a blog site I have set up, and I will send an invitation so you can access the site, and the photos. I am on facebook, but I rarely use it. Hoping to hear from you soon, Glen

AGHA tours motto �We do what we promise � they DO NOT. They do much, much. much more. I reached Cairo on my 60th birthday and they had organized an evening cruise on the Nile as a birthday gift. They played ‘ Happy Birthday ’ and brought a huge chocolate cake for me and my wife. Their planning was perfect and we never had to wait for the guide or van. We had a ten-seater van for just two of us!! Our guide in Cairo Ahmed Nabi is excellent and very well-read. He speaks fluent English and has deep knowledge of history both Egyptian and world. They spared no pain to make our trip a success. We were to leave for Aswan by the night flight and I was to complete my talk at the ICNC 2010 conference only by 5 p.m.. So they extended the hotel stay till 7 p.m. and paid US $ 150 on their own. Every visit to the temples and museums was planned to make our trip easy for my wife who has a back problem. The Luxor temple trip scheduled for 4 pm but as it was too hot (40C) they gave us a sound and light show thought this cost three times more for entrance. Go with Agha if you want the best at affordable cost. They were the least expensive of the top five tour agencies I talked with.

Dear Amr, Thank you very much for your mail. We are back home safely. I congaratulate you for the nice arrangement made for us from your side during our stay at Egypt. I have already recommended your name to few of my friends who are likely to visit in near future. Pls. take care of them nicely if they come to you with my reference. I will send you the photographs of Egypt once I compile them properly. Pls be in touch. Thanks,

Dear AMR, Thanks for your greeting! I would like to write our trip report for you and would like to strongly recommend you to our friends. Thanks a lot for the amazing journey you gave us! I'll send the trip report to you after we figure out the bank transfer issue. Best, Xiangyi

We just came back on Jan 4th after a combined tour of Egypt and Jordan with Agha Tours. Our experience with Agha tours was excellent, and I would recommend them in a heartbeat to anyone. Agha tours really made this trip “a trip of a lifetime”!! Initially from USA, our interactions with Amr, the tour manager was amazing. I must have send him a few dozens of emails, asking for references and smallest details. Each time he responded promptly and was very accommodating to all our requests right up to the last day of our travel. In Egypt, we had someone waiting to receive us in the airport and Amr met us outside the airport with our guide in Cairo, Ahmed. Ahmed was great, taking us patiently through Coptic Cairo, the Cairo museum, Khan El Khalli Bazaar and the famous pyramids. We were very interested in trying local food and Ahmed took us to “Abou Tarek” to try their famous “Khoshary”. It was one of the best food I had in Egypt, would recommend everyone to try eating that. Our hotel in Oasis, was really comfortable, I wouldn’t mind staying there again when we go back to Cairo someday. Amr, had upgraded us to fly from Cairo to Aswan at no extra cost, which was really great. At Aswan we had someone waiting to pick us up (at 12.00 in the night) and we were introduced to our guide Aseem, who turned out to be just great. When we mentioned we were hungry, Aseem took us to a McDonalds, totally out of way, at 12.00 pm and we chatted while we ate leisurely. Amr had booked us in Solaris 2 for our Nile Cruise, the accommodations and the food in the cruise was great. The felucca ride was really nice and calm, it was nice to sail in Nile in sailboat while hearing the gentle splashing of water against the boat. I personally loved Philae temple for its beauty. Even our boat ride from Aswan banks to the Philae temple was Private. Aseem gave us more than enough time at each place and never hurried us through anything. We had choosen the option of going to Abu Simbel and I am glad we did so. Worth every penny of extra money we spend. We had a private van for ourselves and reached Abu Simbel just about when the sun rose, it was a magnificent sight to take. At Kom Ombo, after the visit to temple, we wanted to try Shisha. Again Aseem took us to this place, where you had local music playing while we tried our hands smoking Shisha.. It was certainly an interesting experience. The horse carriage ride in Edfu, was nice, since we actually got to see local people at work as we rode through the local roads towards the temple. We finally checked out of our cruise, and went to Valley of Kings and Deir El-bahari. Both of these places did live up to their hype, but Deir El-bahari, was perhaps the place where it was really hottest of them all. We stayed overnight in Pyramisa hotel (a five star), which was really good. We got rooms overlooking the Nile and had some free time to spend in Luxor which we spend by visiting the local market (Suq) and you better be ready to bargain if you plan to buy something there! Later we had our guide walk us through Karnak and Luxor temples, before they dropped us off at airport for Sharm El-Sheikh after making sure we had all our tickets and were comfortable. At Sharm, as usual, we had someone waiting to pick us up and we were accommodated in Tropicana Sea Beach Resort, another excellent place. We had a great time there. On new years eve, we had decided to climb Mount Sinai and see the sunrise. It was really really cold, but walking under the stars shining brilliantly in the clear skies was amazing. The sunrise by itself is something which I shall remember for a very long long time. I would recommend doing this, if you have time. With Mount Sinai, we were at the end of our trip in Egypt, we were dropped off at Aqaba port, to catch the ferry into Jordan. At Jordan again, the experience was just as great. All in all, it was one great trip with very few hiccups and a very enjoyable time. We had a great experience with Agha tours and if I ever go back, they would be my choice of tour company again.